1. General
The Postal Service spent $5.1 billion for the contractual transportation of mail in 2001. This represents a 7.4 percent increase in the transportation expenses as reported in 2000. However, in FY2001, the Priority Mail Processing Center (PMPC) contract was cancelled and, as a result, costs totaling $275 million in 2001 that previously were classified as other expenses under the PMPC contract are reported as transportation expense in FY2001. When the 2001 transportation expense is adjusted to a basis comparable to 2000, the increase is only 1.5 percent.